The present disclosure relates to a technology capable of omitting a setting operation for an electronic device such as an image forming apparatus.
In an electronic device, such as an image forming apparatus, various functions that improve user convenience are added. A function called a program function is one of such functions. The program function provides a capability to omit a setting operation for the image forming apparatus. Using this function, a user performs a setting by operating an operation section, and preliminarily registers the setting as a program. Accordingly, the user is able to cause the image forming apparatus to execute a job by performing an operation for calling the program, without a need to perform an operation relating to that setting.
As an example, for a copying job, the user may perform a setting of two in one, a setting of a paper size of A4, a setting of duplex copying, and a setting of monochrome copying, by operating the operation section, and preliminarily register the settings as a program. By performing an operation for calling the program, the user is able to cause the image forming apparatus to execute the copying job in accordance with those settings.
If, in such an image forming apparatus, users are able to share the program, it is possible to reduce memory capacity necessary to store the program. Therefore, in a case where one user (e.g., a user A) intends to register a program having the same registration content as that of a program that has already been registered by another user (e.g., a user B), a terminal device of the user B is requested to permit sharing of the program with the user A. In some cases, the program is shared with the user A and used.
However, in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus, the degree of freedom of the user B has been restricted with respect to the availability of sharing of the program.